What revolutionary discoveries were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and why did they occur in Europe?

Building on developments in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, tremendous advances in Europeans’ knowledge of the natural world and techniques for establishing such knowledge took place between 1500 and 1700. Collectively known as the “Scientific Revolution,” these developments were the result of many more people studying the natural world, who used new methods to answer fundamental questions about the universe and how it operated. The authority of ancient Greek texts was replaced by a conviction that knowledge should be acquired by observation and experimentation and that mathematics could be used to understand and represent the workings of the physical world. By 1700 precise laws governing physics and astronomy were known, and a new emphasis on the practical uses of knowledge had emerged.

For a long time, historians focused on the role of heroic individuals in the development of physics and astronomy. While the work of these scientists constituted highly significant milestones in the creation of modern science, their discoveries must be placed in the broader context of international trade, imperial expansion, and cultural contact. Alongside developments in natural philosophy, historians now emphasize the growth of natural history in this period, spurred by colonial empires and their competition over trade and territory.